The Hundred men’s competition, Lord’s
London Spirit 160-5 (100 balls): Pretorius 52 (28); Sowter 2-29
MI London 164-6 (94 balls): Pooran 39 (25); J Overton 2-23
MI London won by four wickets
Scorecard. Table
London Spirit became the first team to be eliminated from The Hundred after a four-wicket defeat by MI London in front of a record crowd at Lord’s.
Chasing 161, MI London needed an unlikely 70 off 37 balls but Sam Curran’s 33 and a quickfire 32 off 16 from Sikandar Raza put them within touching distance.
Zimbabwe all-rounder Raza was making his first appearance of the campaign having replaced Rashid Khan, and smacked four sixes before he fell with just six needed to win.
Curran, who started slowly with one off seven balls before accelerating, laid the platform alongside Nicholas Pooran, who made 39 before he was brilliantly run out by David Willey to give Spirit hope.
But Raza led the counter-attack before Tom Curran and Ollie Pope, the latter newly recalled to England’s Test side, held their nerve to complete the chase with six balls to spare.
The crowd figure of 27,721 was an all-time record attendance for a group stage match of The Hundred.
They had been entertained earlier in the day by Spirit opener Lhuan-Dre Pretorius’ 52 off just 28 balls before the 20-year-old was sensationally caught by Will Jacks’ diving relay effort on the boundary.
Willey whacked 31 off 18 and James Coles, who was the most expensive player at the auction earlier this year, made an unbeaten 30 as they posted a competitive 160-5.
But a lack of consistency cost them again, with just one win from six matches so far in a season to forget for head coach Andy Flower. Meanwhile, MI London move up to second in the table to boost their knockout chances.